In a network communication product, such as a router, a switch, etc., a pricing mode is usually made based on hardware single boards and overall software in it. For example, a certain user requires an equipment supplier to provide hardware single board resources which include 12 gigabit Ethernet ports and 30 E1 ports, and then at least two hardware single boards of type A need to be provided according to a redundancy requirement for hardware configuration which is “the same type of ports cannot be located at one line card slot”. Each line card of the type A includes 8 gigabit Ethernet ports and 24 E1 ports, so the single boards supplied to the user by the equipment supplier may include 16 gigabit Ethernet ports and 48 E1 ports, which are more than ports required by the user for 4 gigabit Ethernet ports and 18 E1 ports. These extra supplied hardware resources are usually not included in the price, and they are equivalently presented to the user for free, which results in that resource value of the equipment supplier cannot be maximized.
For another example, a certain user requires an equipment supplier to provide a software version with a K function running on a hardware single board and to price only according to the K function. However, in fact, the software version provided by the equipment supplier includes the K function as well as an L function both of which can run on the same hardware single board. In this way, after purchasing the K function, the user may also use the L function. However, the user does not pay for the L function, and the resource value of the equipment supplier cannot be maximized.
Therefore, in the network communication product such as the router, the switch, etc., it is relatively coarse of the granularity of the pricing mode based on the hardware single boards and software of the whole machine, and there are following risk problems.
It cannot be restricted to behaviors of users in personally using spare parts, modifying parameters for expansion, opening a non-payment function and the like, it cannot be restricted to software piracy and anatomy, and intellectual property cannot be protected, and then the product cannot be packaged and priced flexibly according to user demands.